Two Ways to Belong in America

Two Ways to Belong in America

Punctuation

Mukherjee uses phrases and sentences in parenthesis very liberally.

Her use of these gives the narrative a more personal feeling, like she is informing but adding her own commentary along with it.

Syntax

"renouncing 3000 years (at least) of caste-observant, 'pure culture' marriage."

She writes the opening in the third person, and doesn't specify who she is until after the first paragraph. This makes the opening seem like the beginning of a story.

Syntax

Rhetorical Question

"Which of us is the freak?"

There is a mix of sentence length, but they were mostly simple. They were smooth most of the time, but there were some short and choppy sentences which made it difficult to read fluidly.

• “I've obeyed all the rules, I've paid my taxes, I love my work, I love my students, I love the friends I've made.” {choppy}. This is an example of parallelism.
• “I am moved that thousands of long-term residents are finally taking the oath of citizenship"

Details

Mukherjee asks this rhetorical question to make the reader think about the differences between her and her sister.

She uses the word freak for its negative connotation, making the reader consider that their choices in life are wrong.

However, the answer is that neither of them are "the freak" because they're just different.

Mukherjee brings up her time living in Canada to emphasize how she agrees with Mira's ideology that immigration laws do create a sense of betrayal.

• "I will never forget the pain of that sudden turning, and the causal racist outburst of the Green Party elicited....drove me away"
• Unlike Mira, Mukherjee decided turn the problem into a positive situation by interacting with her chosen country through obtaining the US Citizenship

Details

While Mira would rather stay as a expatriate Indian not a immigrant America who doesn't assimilate to a country that doesn't fully except her.

Background

"She is here to maintain an identity, not to transform it."

Details

Mukherjee includes background detail about her life in India and how her thinking resembled those of her sister Mira

• "identical in appearance and attitude....expressed identical views on politics, social issues love, marriage"
• she doesn't include the mood between the sister when they spoke
• it emphasizes the disconnection between the them as they uphold different values about political issues

Two Ways to Belong in America is a narrative written by Bharati Mukherjee about her and her sister's experiences immigrating from Calcutta, India, to the United States. It was written to emphasize the difference in viewpoints she and her sister have on immigration and becoming an American citizen.

Diction

"Pure culture"- emphasizes the difference between the two sister's mind set on how much of their culture they should retain

"Expatriate"- Mira sees herself as a proud immigrant while Mukherjee is willing to fix Indian and American culture

"I am her only blood relative on this continent"

Use of the word continent creates a sense of distance, as opposed to just saying "America" or "country."

Imagery

This creates a more dramatic tone and essentially makes her and her sister seem more isolated in America.

"blue jeans and T-shirts"

Uses stereotypical American imagery to describe herself and her appearance, adding to the contrast between her and her sister

" 'pure culture,' the saris, the delightfully accented English."

This shows how she enjoys the "pure culture" still. She isn't put off by any of it, describes the accents as delightful.

Tone

Language

Imagery

The tone is frank even as she examines both sides to wanting to adapt to the new environment or retaining one's culture identity.

The use of imagery makes Mukherjee seem very happy living in America and giving up her old culture, which strongly contrasts her sister's anger towards America and being an immigrant.

The language is simple and not full of ridiculous vocabulary words.

The purpose of this piece is informative.

She is opinionated but backs up her ideas with fact, and uses facts about politics and history throughout the narrative, including Al Gore and a national referendum in Canada.

Jargon-she uses specialized words

• "petitioned for the labor certification"
• ''expatriate aristocrat to immigrant nobody"
• "invited a national referendum on the unwanted side effects of nontraditional' immigration"
• "trauma of self-transformation"
• mood- Mukherjee is educated and she understands the situation
• conformity, observant (of the situation)

She compares and contrasts between her and sister in all of the narrative. She mentions the differences in the lifestyles and political views.

"We never said what was really on our minds, but we probably pitied one another."